NEUCHATEL – Barhain-Merida’s Jan Tratnik won the prologue of the Tour of Romandie in Switzerland on Tuesday, while Geraint Thomas finished fifth in Team Ineos’ first outing.
Primoz Roglic, the reigning champion who rides for Jumbo-Visma, completed a Slovenian one-two when he was second in the 3.8-kilometre warm-up stage around city of Neuchatel.
Swiss rider Tom Bohli of UAE Emirates, was third with Germany’s Tony Martin of Jumbo fourth.
Tour de France champion Thomas was four seconds behind winner Tratnik, and wore the transitional kit of Team Ineos, who are taking over Sky.
The Ineos sponsorship officially starts on May 1, but rules forbid a team to change name or uniform during a race.
Ineos will unveil their new livery at the official launch on Wednesday in England. In the six-day Tour of Romandie, the team are wearing the old Sky uniform with the name on the chest changed.
Riders face a more demanding test on Wednesday when the official first stage of the race takes the peloton on a 168.4km run from Neuchatel to La Chaux-de-Fonds.
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/TDR2019?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TDR2019 @JTratnik( @Bahrain_Merida) portera demain le maillot jaune des fromages Maréchal ! pic.twitter.com/8zdEnKyZds
— Tour de Romandie (@TourDeRomandie)
Prologue Results
Jan Tratnik (SLO/BAH) 5min 6sec, Primoz Roglic (SLO/JUM) at 1sec Tom Bohli (SUI/EMI) at same time, Tony Martin (GER/JUM) 4, Geraint Thomas (GBR/INE) s.t.